‘Get A Grip’ Says Colin Powell To Republican Party

Bush’s Secretary of State called out the Republican Party last week, telling them to ‘get a grip’ at a lecture with CNN columnist Fareed Zakaria and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright on Oct. 1.

“The Republican party has got to get a grip on itself,” Former Secy. of State Colin Powell on the state of the current GOP. “Republican leaders and members of the Congress… are holding back because they’re terrified of what will happen [to] any one of them if they speak out.” pic.twitter.com/zkCScy8uA1

— CNN (@CNN) October 6, 2019

Colin Powell, a retired four-star general who served as secretary of state under George W. Bush, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H.W. Bush, and national security advisor to Ronald Reagan, criticized conservatives for letting Trump’s mad grabs at power go unpunished and said that Republicans are “terrified” about losing a primary and what will happen to them, which is why members of Congress stayed silent at Trump’s Ukraine dealings.

The former Secretary also criticized the government’s current foreign policy, stating it to be a “shambles.” He referred to Trump’s doctored maps of Hurricane Dorian’s projected path—which incorrectly warned that Alabama would be affected—and said “In my time, one of us would have gone to the president and said, ‘Mr. President, you screwed up, so we’ve got to fix it and we’ll put out a correction.” Instead of a correction, the Commerce Department was ordered to back up Trump’s error, noted Powell. “This is not the way the country’s supposed to run, and Congress is one of the institutions that should be doing something about this,” he said.

President @realDonaldTrump gives an update on Hurricane #Dorian: pic.twitter.com/CmxAXHY5AO

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 4, 2019

The rightfully critical retired general also called on congressional members to “remember that the Constitution started with, ‘We the People,’” he said. “Not ‘Me the President.’”